Background: Burnout is prevalent among healthcare workers (HCW) within the United States and has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.1,2,3,4 Approximately 52% of HCWs–including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and physical therapists–reported burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic.1 Social isolation is an important factor associated with burnout among HCWs.5 Despite the rise in burnout, interventions to address burnout by reducing social isolation and promoting collaboration remain limited within healthcare settings.6,7,8,9
Purpose: Kindness helps to build community, reduce isolation, and decrease burnout.5,10,11 Additionally, the provider of the kind behavior (the kindness advocate) benefits psychologically, particularly when this practice is sustained long-term.12 Anecdotally, within the healthcare system, we observe not only reduced social isolation with kind behavior, but also increased collegiality. It appears that kindness carries the potential to improve collaboration within and across healthcare teams.13 At the same time, kindness has a ripple effect that can spread through social networks, thus potentially shifting a community’s culture over time.10 Given these findings, we hypothesize that implementing an initiative aimed at increasing kindness among HCWs can increase well-being, reduce burnout, promote collaboration, and improve patient care.
Description: The Kindness Coalition (TKC) is an organization and initiative aimed at fostering kindness and collaboration across professions and departments. The resident-created initiative aims to create a system that encourages kindness in daily communication and actions, reducing social isolation, bridging silos, and building a sense of community. TKC aims to bring together HCWs across departments and professions in a common effort to build a culture of kindness, while rewarding kind behavior as a means of positive reinforcement (Figure 1). The intervention includes the following facets: Kindness AdvocatesKindness advocates are HCWs who are invested in modeling kind behavior and building a culture of collaboration across professions and departments. Kindness advocates may include any HCW who aims to take part in this daily effort. Monthly EventsThe events bring together HCWs across professions and departments. We discuss the objectives of TKC, the value of kindness, and approaches to kind behavior. In addition, we offer pins with a custom logo identifiable with the initiative to serve as physical reminders and conversation starters. Kindness RecognitionThe kindness recognition survey is shared with HCWs each week via email and through QR codes posted in the hospital. It offers HCWs the opportunity to identify other HCWs whose kindness positively impacted them. A personal thank you email is sent to each HCW recognized in the weekly survey. Communication PlatformThe platform for communication via text allows kindness advocates to have ongoing communication. It provides continuity between events, as well as a way to build community around the shared goal of promoting a culture of kindness and wellness across the organization.
Conclusions: The Kindness Coalition is an organization and initiative aimed at increasing kindness in daily behaviors among HCWs across professions and departments. Through increasing kindness, the intervention aims to reduce burnout, promote a sense of well-being, increase collaboration, and ultimately improve patient care throughout the healthcare system.
